The present invention relates to a program-display control apparatus and a program-display control method which are used for displaying a table of television-broadcast programs and/or a table of web programs. More particularly, the present invention relates to a program-display control apparatus and a program-display control method which are used for displaying a table of television-broadcast programs transmitted by way of a satellite, a table of television-broadcast programs transmitted by ground waves and/or a table of web programs.
Traditionally, a program table is announced to the audience through radio and television columns in a newspaper or a magazine. A program table is a table of scheduled programs of BS (Broadcast Satellite) digital broadcasts or ground wave broadcasts. A BS digital broadcast is a television broadcast transmitted by adopting a digital method by way of a BS. On the other hand, a ground wave broadcast is a television broadcast transmitted by adopting an analog method using a ground wave. In addition, in recent years, a program table transmitted from a television broadcasting station as a program table having a radio/television column format can be displayed on the screen of an apparatus such as a television receiver or a personal computer. As an example of such a program table, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) produced by Gemstar Corporation is widely known. There are two methods of displaying a program table having a radio/television column format. The two methods are referred to as a program-table display method of a program-frame type and a program-table display method of a time-frame type, respectively. In accordance with either of the methods, the horizontal axis of the screen represents channels or corporation names and the vertical axis represents the time.
However, the conventional program-display control apparatus and the conventional program-display control method have a problem that information on each program cannot be displayed in a format which can be recognized by the user with ease because the data of the program table is configured to be displayed in an EPG format.
For example, with the conventional technology, a program table of a BS digital broadcast cannot be displayed on the same screen as a program table of a ground wave broadcast. Thus, the user must switch the screen from the program table of a BS digital broadcast to the program table of a ground wave broadcast in order to inspect the latter or vice versa. As a result, in order to make a video-recording reservation, the user may need to carry out a very cumbersome operation of switching the screen from the program table of a BS digital broadcast to the program table of a ground wave broadcast. In addition, in recent years, a program table of web programs is also being distributed to the audience. It is also necessary to display the program table of web programs at the same time as the program tables of broadcasts.
On top of that, with the conventional technology, it may be impossible to display information on programs on a displayed table of the programs. The information on a program includes the name and description of the program. FIGS. 33A and 33B are each a diagram showing a typical screen displaying a conventional program table having the radio/television format. To be more specific, FIG. 33A is a diagram showing a typical screen displaying a program table of a program-frame type for a time period of one hour from 10:00 to 11:00. On the other hand, FIG. 33B is a diagram showing a typical screen displaying a program table of a time-frame type for a time period of one hour.
In the case of the program-frame type, the program table has a configuration in which the name of the last program in the time period of one hour and information on the program are always displayed and, in addition, the name of the program having the longest broadcast period in the time period of one hour and information on the longest program are displayed. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 33A, the name of the last program is program B. In the case of the time-frame type, on the other hand, the program table has a configuration in which the name of each program in the time period of one hour and information relevant to the program are displayed in an area with a size proportional to the length of the broadcast time of the program. Thus, in the case of the program table shown in FIG. 33A, since the name of the last program B with a broadcast period from 10:20 to 11:00 and information on the program must be displayed, only a small area is left. As a result, while it is possible to display the name of the first program A with a broadcast period from 10:00 to 10:20 in this small area, it is impossible to display information on the program in the same area. In the figure, the information on program A is represented by a string of characters enclosed in a box formed by dashed lines. In the case of the program table shown in FIG. 33B, by the same token, since the name of program D and information on the program are displayed in an area with a size proportional to the length of the broadcast time of the program, only a small area is left. As a result, while it is possible to display the name of program C with a broadcasting period from 10:00 to 10:10 in this small area with a size proportional to the broadcast time of 10 minutes, it is impossible to display information on the program in the same area. In the figure, the information on program C is represented by a string of characters enclosed in a box formed by dashed lines.
In the case of BS digital broadcasting, programs sharing an event may be broadcast by using a plurality of channels each allocated to one of the programs. In such a case, a large amount of picture data is transmitted through a broad band accommodating the used channels. Thus, it is possible to display a picture having a higher quality than a picture transmitted using only a single channel. With the conventional technology, however, a program table cannot be displayed by placing emphasis on the shared-event programs, each serving as a characteristic program. Thus, the conventional technology does not give a configuration that can be recognized by the user with ease.
In addition, for example, the transmission format of BS digital broadcasts allows information on up to three genres to be added for each program. Since the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses, named ARIB, does not prescribe an order in which the three genres are to be broadcast, however, in accordance with the conventional technology, a first genre in the transmission order is displayed in the program table as a program attribute. Thus, the conventional technology has a problem that, even if a genre which the user wants to see is included in a program, the genre may not be displayed in the program table so that, in this case, the user overlooks the program or misses a video-recording reservation for the program. That is to say, the conventional technology does not give a configuration that allows the user to recognize the genre display of a program with ease.
On the top of that, the transmission format of ground wave broadcasts allows information on only one genre to be added for each program. Thus, the data structure of the EPG information in ground wave broadcasts is different from the data structure of the EPG information in BS digital broadcasts. Thus, even if the genre of a program of a ground wave broadcast is the same as the genre of a program of a BS digital broadcast, the genres cannot be displayed in the same format.
It is thus an object of the present invention addressing the problems described above to provide a program-display control apparatus and a program-display control method which are capable of displaying information on each program in a state easily recognizable to the user without regard to the configuration used to display program-table data included in a received television broadcast signal.